Last month, Serbia held parliamentary elections in which the conservative and pro-EU Progressive party won a decisive majority in the legislature. In an email interview, Marlene Spoerri, U.N. officer at Independent Diplomat who has done research on democracy promotion and post-conflict statebuilding in the Western Balkans, explained what led to the victory and what comes next.
WPR: What factors led to the Progressive party's decisive victory in Serbia's parliamentary elections?
Marlene Spoerri: A number of factors contributed to the Progressive party’s victory in the March 2014 parliamentary elections. The first is the party’s pro-EU, center-right platform. Since it was formed as a breakaway offshoot of Serbia’s far-right Serbian Radical Party in 2008, the Progressive party has adopted a populist rhetoric that combines support for EU accession with strong nationalism. This winning combination has allowed it to undermine the popularity both of Serbia’s far right and its pro-EU reformists.